Shovel



C. R. ANDERSON.

SHOVEL.

APPLlCATlON man ocr. 1, 1915.

1,1 94,924. Patented Aug. 15,1916.

WITNESSES INVENTOR CECIL R. ANDERSON, OF BEN AVON, PENNSYLVANIA.

SHOVEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented-Aug. 15, 1916.

Application filed October 7, 1915. Serial No. 54,514.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CECIL R. ANDERSON, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Ben Avon, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shovels, of which the following is a specification.

The primary object of this invention is I to so construct the shovel body as to efiectively reinforce it against transverse, longitudinal and diagonal strains.

The invention is embodied in that type of shovels having flanged or offset upper and side portions which are used primarily for handling coal although of course adapted for other uses. The angles defining the junctures between the top and side deflections comprise relatively, weak points, and as the shovel is subjected to much strain at these points or lines it is highly desirable to stiffen or reinforce the same. This is accomplished in a simple and highly efficient manner by the present invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of a shovel constructed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan of the same. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. A is a View similar to Fig. 1 illustrating a modification.

The. shovel here illustrated is of conventional form, being stamped or shaped from a blank of sheet metal, and consisting of body A having the deflected side portions B and the similarly deflected transverse top portion C, the opposite ends of the latter joining with deflections B at the bends or angles D. The body is formed with the usual centrally disposed downwardly tapering frog E which extends upwardly across top deflection C, the metal being continued upwardly from the frog and curled to form the handle socket F. The construction thus far defined is well known in the art and particularly in the construction of coal scoops or shovels.

The bending strains to which shovels are subjected, particularly in manipulating coal and other heavy commodities, are very great, and it is necessary to either form the shovel of an abnormally heavy plate or to strengthen or reinforce the body if destructive bending strains are to be forestalled.

Of the several portions of the shovel which are subjected to heavy strains, the

weakest points or lines are probably those occurring at bends D. This may be demonstrated by exerting pressure on the handle of a coal shovel of ordinary type with the shovel body resting on one of its lower corners a, when the most pronounced deflection will be seen to occur approximately at the bends D.

The efficient strengthening means herein proposed consists in providing the deflected portlons with strengthening ribs which also cross and strengthen the deflection-uniting bends. As here shown the ribs are embodied 1n straight corrugations G in top deflection C at opposite sides of the frog, the corrugat1ons being curved at G coincidently with and extending across bends D and downwardly into deflections B, asindicated at While in the preferred form, corrugatlons G merge with the upper portion of frog E, the invention is not limited in this regard. With the corrugations arranged as described, the shovel body is reinforced or stiffened in such manner as to withstand both transverse and longitudinal strains, as well as diagonal strains, and at the same time the pan or body of the shovel is without obstruction save for the usual central frog E. And particularly, it is effectually reinforced at the bends which define the junctures of deflections B and C, the places where maximum reinforcement should be provided.

While it is preferred to have corrugations G located wholly within top deflection 0, they may be formed somewhat lower down as in Fig. 4E, merging with or obliterating the deflection-defining bend C. This results in placing the curved portion G of the corrugation somewhat lower in bend D but without losing the strengthening effect at that point. Also, as illustrated in the modification, additional strengthening corrugations or frogs J may be arranged in body A at either side of the central frog E, the same preferably joining with corrugations G and tapering downwardly as shown.

While stiffening corrugations in various forms have been proposed heretofore for strengthening shovel bodies having ofiset marginal portions, I believe myself to be the first to confine such corrugations to the deflected portions, and with the same so located as to reinforce the bends or angles in such deflections, thereby providing them where most needed and leaving the body i=1 the junctures of said portions.

2. A shovel body having its opposite side and top portions deflected with the top deflection merging into the side deflections, said deflected portions being corrugated inwardly from their outer edges with each corrugation extending throughout a portion of the length of the top deflection and across the juncture of the top and side deflections and into a side deflection.

3. A shovel body having the opposite side and top portions deflected with the outer ends of the top deflection merging into the side deflections and with bends defining such junctures, the top deflection formed with oppositely extending substantially horizon tal corrugations spaced downwardly from its upper edge, the corrugations curved and crossing said junctures and extending downv wardly into the side deflections.

4:. A shovel having its body formed with top and side deflections and with a central upwardly extending frog which traverses the top deflection, the top deflection formed with oppositely extending corrugations spaced downwardly from its upper edge, the inner ends of the corrugations intersecting said frog, each corrugation extending outwardly longitudinally through the top deflection and across its juncture with the side deflection and downwardly into the latter.

5. A rectangular shovel body having a central integral upwardly extending handle socket and a frog extending downwardly from the socket into the body, the marginal top portion of the body at opposite sides of the socket deflected frontwardly and the marginal side portions of the body similarly deflected and with the side deflections merging into the top deflection, said deflections formed with corrugations spaced from the outer edges thereof and extending across the junotures of the deflections.

In testimon whereof I aflix my signature in presence 0 two witnesses.

CECIL R. ANDERSON.

Witnesses:

S. A. MOFARLAND, J. M. NESBIT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

